Yahoo Lifestyle 
Aldi's new pizza vending machine serves shoppers an instant hot meal: 'Epic'
Aldi has launched a one-of-a-kind Pizzabot to serve up restaurant-style pizza at its North Sydney store.
The robotic vending machine is a first for Aldi and is designed to serve up freshly-baked wood-fired pizza to hungry shoppers in under two minutes.
The Pizzabot was created in collaboration with Bondi start-up Placer Robotics, and is the first pizza vending machine to be designed and manufactured in Australia.
Pizzabot will debut exclusively in North Sydney's Aldi Corner Store as part of a trial for a limited time.
RELATED:
Aldi $12.99 Special Buy people are loving: 'The coolest thing'
Woman's Aldi buy leaves shoppers gobsmacked: 'I found a gem'
Huw Longman, Director of Aldi Corner Store, said that Aldi is “extremely excited” to launch the Aussie-made Pizzabot.
“We understand our shoppers are motivated by quality, value and supporting local, and we are extremely excited by our collaboration with Pizzabot, a true Aussie innovation, to deliver great quality pizza and a unique experience, at the lowest price point,” Mr Longman said.
North Sydney shoppers will find the Pizzabot robotic vending machine serving up Pepperoni and Italiana pizza from just $8.99 only a short stroll from the Special Buys middle aisle.
Mr Longman said that the Pizzabot will provide a unique lunch experience for North Sydneysiders in their Aldi Corner Store.
“Exclusive to Aldi Corner Store, this collaboration to launch Pizzabot reflects our commitment to delighting our customers with innovation. We’re pretty confident that this will be a Good Different lunch experience for North Sydney-siders,” he said.
How Aldi’s pizzabot robot vending machine works
The robot pizza maker has the capacity to cook 450 pizzas per day, or about 17 pizzas per hour, which is handy for hungry shoppers looking for a unique lunch experience.
The Pizzabot features a glass front so shoppers can get a front-row seat to their pizza being cooked and packaged by the machine.
To ensure every pizza being served up is restaurant quality, the pizza bases are handmade and partially cooked in Bondi before being topped with premium local ingredients.
The pizzas are then chilled in Pizzabot’s precision temperature controller, so they are ready to heat and eat in a matter of minutes.
Matt Lipski, Pizzabot Founder and Managing Director said that to ensure they’re bringing restaurant quality gourmet pizzas to Aldi Corner Store customers, they use only the freshest, highest-quality ingredients.
These ingredients include buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, gourmet salami and 48-hour rise dough.
“Our custom oven, which reaches temperatures as high as a wood-fired oven with digital precision, guarantees the perfect crispness, taste and look of each slice, every time,” Mr Lipski said.
Mr Lipski explained that Pizzabot’s vision “was to give time-poor consumers restaurant grade pizza that is quick, delicious, healthy and affordable.”
“With their contemporary format and focus on the highest quality, local ingredients at an affordable price, it was clear from the beginning that the Aldi Corner Store was our ideal collaborator to launch Pizzabot in Australia,” he added.
There are currently no plans to roll out the Pizzabot in Aldi’s standard stores.
TikToker shows Aldi Pizzabot in action
Meanwhile an Aldi shopper’s video of the Pizzabot in action has gone viral on TikTok, amassing over 35,900 views and over 1,000 likes from excited shoppers.
In the TikTok video posted by @ants99, the shopper demonstrates how the Pizzabot works for fellow customers.
“I tried this pizza robot at the local Aldi,” says a voiceover in the 29-second video.
In the clip, the shopper uses the touch screen on the robot pizza maker to select a freshly-baked salami pizza. She then follows the on-screen prompts to pay using her debit card and waits while her pizza bakes.
After two minutes the woman’s warm pizza is dispensed neatly in a box, which she promptly collects to enjoy later.
Shoppers were suitably impressed by the innovative pizza maker, with many sharing their thoughts in the comments.
“Why is no one talking about this? Epic,” wrote one user.
“That is actually cool!” wrote a second user.
However, several shoppers pointed out that $8.99 for a small serve of pizza was a “rip off” compared to a similar serving size from Domino's for only $5.
Never miss a thing. Sign up to Yahoo Lifestyle’s daily newsletter.
Or if you have a story idea, email us at lifestyle.tips@yahooinc.com.
